A Low Key, Positive Start. Oh, and Yes, Hookers

OK.  So let’s go back to the beginning of my June Vegas trip and discuss my very first session.  Recall that my previous two trips to Vegas earlier in the year had featured pretty much nothing but runbad.  My luck was better back in L.A. and I had some decent winning sessions there.  But it seemed like forever since I’d had a decent result in Vegas.

Now, at the beginning of what was going to a 20-night stay in Vegas, it was important for my mental state that I get off to a good start—or at the very least, avoid getting too deep into a hole right off the bat.  I was wondering if it was possible for me to win at a Vegas poker table ever again.  That’s not the best attitude to take into a poker game, for sure, but I knew that it would likely take a winning session or two to “cure” me.

I already mentioned here why my first session of the trip was at the Mirage.  The game I was sent to turned out to be quite nitty, which I didn’t mind.  If I didn’t have to risk a lot of chips to play this first game back in town, it was fine by me. 

It was a 1/2 game and I bought in for $200 as usual.  Early on I had Queen-10 of diamonds and just limped in.  No raise, four of us saw a flop of Q-8-4, rainbow.  I was going to bet $5, but someone behind bet $5 out of turn.  So I just checked and let him make his $5 bet.  I was the only caller.  The turn was a 10 and this time I did bet, $10.  He called.  The river blanked and I bet $15.  He called.  He showed Queen-4 for a flopped two pair.  Nice turn card for me.  It was a nice little pot to win to welcome me back to Vegas.

I limped in with pocket 5’s and it was 7-way.  The flop was Ace-5-3 rainbow.  Someone led out for $5 and two players in front of me called.  I decided to just call, hoping I could keep more players in the hand to pay me off later.  The turn was a Queen and this time it checked to me so I had to bet.  My $20 bet was not called and I took down another small pot.

With pocket 7’s it folded to me on the button.  I made it $6 and only the small blind called.  The flop was King-Queen-8 and I c-bet $10 and took the pot.

In late position I called a raise to $11 with Ace-Jack offsuit.  Five of us saw an Ace-high, rainbow flop. The preflop raiser bet $16 and I called.  My thinking was to get a showdown as cheaply as possible since my kicker might not have been good.  But a bet like that for the size of the pot was likely an indication that he was on the weak side and a raise there might not have been a bad idea.  We were heads up and he bet $16 on a blank turn, I called.  And again when the river blanked, he bet another $16 and I just called.  He showed Ace-10.  I think he might very well have folded earlier to a raise from me but you never know.

Last hand I made note of I had 9-8 of diamonds in the big blind.  Four of us saw a flop that had one diamond on it, no one bet.  A second diamond hit the turn and no one bet.  When the Queen of diamonds hit the river I bet $5 with my medium flush.  A lady raised to $10 and I figured she had a bigger flush, but I couldn’t fold for five bucks.  But it turned out she only had a Queen and I won that little pot.

I was pretty tired from getting up early and the long drive into town, so I was fine with making it an early night.  I was up $80 and settled for that.

After saying goodbye to my friends in the mixed game, I wandered around the Mirage.  Over in one of the pit areas, a woman caught my attention.  I believe I had already determined that their nightclub wasn’t open this night, so I was surprised to see a girl in what I initially thought was a slut parade type dress.  It was powder blue and it was incredibly tight. It looked like it was spray painted on.  The girl had what I refer to as an “exaggerated figure.”  By that I mean she seemingly couldn’t stand up perfectly straight, she was slightly bent over, which accented a rather large derrière and a rather large chest. Honestly, neither of those body parts looked natural.  The dress wasn’t as short as some and it wasn’t low-cut (just super-tight everywhere, including across the bust) and I’ve seen many a club-going girl dress like that.  So I assumed she was going to be going to a club somewhere.

Well, she was on her cell phone and as soon as she got off, another gal came up to her and greeted her by slapping her right on that unnatural looking butt of hers.  That got my attention.  Now from the angle I first saw her, this new gal looked to be dressed very plainly, much more demurely than her friend. Of course, I only saw her from the back.

But I was walking in their direction and as I got past them, I turned and saw her from the front.  Did I say demur?  Ha!  Her top was open down to almost her navel, revealing what were, in all likelihood, surgically implanted flotation devices of the super-size variety. Real or fake, that was a boatload of boobage she was exposing.  I was about to get a second look when, from behind me, I heard her say, “Hi honey, how ya doing?”  I was pretty sure she was saying this to some other guy, not me.  But I beat a hasty retreat and said to myself. “Holy shit….they’re hookers.”  As I’ve pointed out, usually hookers dress more conservatively that that.  Anyway, it was just my first night in town and I had already gotten my first hooker sighting out of the way.  I was officially in Vegas.

And even though it wasn’t a huge result, it was good to enter that first session into the ledger with black ink instead of red.  I followed it up the next night with an even leaner $45 win at MGM, another pretty nitty game.  But it was a good way to ease into a long Vegas trip.